Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Data Acquisition From Cemetery Headstones, Cameron Smith Christiansen

Theses and Dissertations

Data extraction from engraved text is discussed rarely, and nothing in the open literature discusses data extraction from cemetery headstones. Headstone images present unique challenges such as engraved or embossed characters (causing inner-character shadows), low contrast with the background, and significant noise due to inconsistent stone texture and weathering. Current systems for extracting text from outdoor environments (billboards, signs, etc.) make assumptions (i.e. clean and/or consistently-textured background and text) that fail when applied to the domain of engraved text. Additionally, the ability to extract the data found on headstones is of great historical value. This thesis describes a novel and …